NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – The president of Tanzania finally acknowledges that his country has a coronavirus problem after saying for months that the disease had been overcome through prayer.
Populist President John Magufuli urged citizens of the East African country on Sunday to take precautions and even wear face masks – but only locally made masks. Over the course of the pandemic, he has expressed concerns about foreign-made goods, including COVID-19 vaccines.
The president’s remarks came days after the country, with some 60 million people, mourned the death of one of its most prominent politicians, the vice president of the semi-autonomous island region of Zanzibar, whose political party had previously said he was COVID. -19 had. The president’s chief secretary also died in recent days, although the cause was not revealed.
Magufuli, speaking at the chief secretary’s funeral in a nationwide television broadcast on Friday, urged the nation to participate in three days of prayer for unspecified “respiratory” illnesses that had become a challenge in the country. .
Tanzania has not updated the number of coronavirus infections since April, as the president has insisted that COVID-19 was defeated. The official number of coronavirus infections in Tanzania remains only 509, but residents report that many people have fallen ill with breathing difficulties and that hospitals have seen an increase in the number of patients with ‘pneumonia’.
World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has added his voice to Tanzania’s growing call to recognize COVID-19 for the well-being of its citizens, neighboring countries and the world, especially after a number of countries reported visitors from Tanzania tested positive for the virus.
In a statement Saturday, Tedros called the situation in Tanzania “very worrying” and urged the Magufuli government to take “strong measures”. Others recently voicing concerns include the United States and the local Catholic Church.